Atombeam

By 2025, the amount of data in the world is expected to reach ninety zettabytes. For reference, one zettabyte is equal to a trillion gigabytes.

But right now, the storage capacity of all the data centers globally is about two zettabytes. This overwhelming shortage is placing mounting pressure on networks, slowing and overloading them. So, what’s the answer?

AtomBeam has developed a potential solution. It’s a data-compaction software company that shrinks, secures, and speeds data transmission.

Using machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI), it reduces the size of data files by seventy-five percent, and adds a much-needed layer of security. This technology has the potential to free up space for all of this data and enable it to be shared quickly and securely.

AtomBeam is led by an experienced team. Its CEO has twenty-five years of financial experience, and led two prior companies. Its Chief Technology Officer managed software teams at HP, Siemens, and Red Hat. Its Chief Scientist is a mathematics professor at the University of South Carolina, and holds degrees from MIT and the University of California, San Diego. And its Chief Revenue Officer managed sales teams at SAP and Oracle.

The company’s software, called Neurpac, merges data reduction, security, and search ability into a single algorithm. With an average of seventy-five percent reduction in data size, Neurpac maintains data integrity by encoding standard data into much smaller codewords. This can make networks up to four times more efficient and secure, paving the way for technologies like AI.

To a computer, a tiny codeword has all the same information as the much larger pattern it represents, generally allowing the computer to operate far more efficiently by processing far less data. Notably, a computer doesn’t need all of the human-driven context and repetition that bulks up data, but instead can work on the core information without wasting its resources.

AtomBeam’s second product, Neurcom, will address data types that fall under “lossy” categories: images, video, and audio. This will be a complementary product to Neurpac, which is suited for data like telemetry and tracking messages. Neurcom is under development as part of a $1.2 million contract with the U.S. Air Force and is expected to be available for commercial use in 2025.

In the meantime, AtomBeam has achieved significant progress. It generated $640,000 in revenue from the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force in 2023. And in mid-2023, the company was awarded a Phase II contract for $1.2 million by the Air Force Research Laboratory to develop Neurcom for use in satellites and aircraft. AtomBeam has been issued forty patents and has sixty-two others pending.

Team Background

Josh Cooper - Chief Scientist

Josh is AtomBeam’s chief software architect and also a professor of Mathematics at the University of South Carolina.

Prior to these roles, he was Chief Data Scientist with Behavior Matrix, a market research company using machine learning and high-volume data processing. Before that, he was a post doctoral researcher at NYU, focusing on mathematics and computer science.

Earlier in his career, Josh was a consultant with Microsoft and spent four years as a teaching assistant at the University of California.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from MIT and a Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego.

Asghar Riahi - Chief Technical Officer

Asghar had the original idea for AtomBeam’s technology, and is responsible for its development and IP. He is a leading technology innovator with more than twenty-five years of experience in software and IT solutions.

Previously, he was an information systems analyst at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information. Before that, he spent two years as a solutions architect with Red Hat, a software company acquired by IBM in 2019 for thirty-four billion dollars.

Earlier in his career, he was a cloud architect with Seagate Technology, a computer hardware company. Prior to that, he spent thirteen years at HP, serving as a master technologist. He began his career as a senior systems architect with Electronic Data Systems and was also a senior programmer with Siemens.

Asghar earned a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the Vienna University of Technology and also studied at MIT.

Kent Warren - Chief Revenue Officer

In addition to his role with AtomBeam, Kent is a principal with K3 Clouds, a data center contractor. He splits his time evenly between the two businesses.

Previously, he was Senior Vice President at @Risk Technologies, a cybersecurity company. Before that, he was President of ManTech Commercial Services, another cybersecurity business.

Earlier, he started IT solution companies. Prior to that, he spent thirteen years at SAP, a software company, helping clients such as the U.S. Department of Defense transform its supply chain. Kent began his career with Oracle, a multinational software company, and earned a Bachelor’s degree from Radford University.

Charles Yeomans - Chief Executive Officer

Charles has more than twenty-five years of experience in executive management and investment banking.

Prior to starting AtomBeam, he was CEO of Trigemina, a biotech company. Before that, he was CEO of an employee benefits technology company, Portal Group Holdings.

Earlier, he was Chief Operating Officer at Frenkel & CO, an insurance company, and before that was Executive Vice President of Ultralink, a technology firm.

Charles started out as an investment banker with Drexel Burnham Lambert, and was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College and an MBA from Stanford.

Co-Investors